Vernon Remains Are Those Of Missing Manchester Woman

DNA evidence allows police to identify the remains found in 2013 in Vernon.

VERNON — The human remains found in woods off West Street more than two years ago have been identified as those of Carol Shapiro, a Manchester woman who was reported missing in August 2007.

She was identified after DNA in the bones recovered on March 13, 2013, was compared to the DNA of Shapiro’s relatives, police said.

Police previously said that analysis revealed that the remains were those of a woman, although the DNA did not match any DNA in a national database.

Vernon Det. James Grady said Shapiro was reported missing Aug. 31, 2007. She was last seen at her apartment on North Main Street in Manchester.

Manchester Det. Claire Hearn contacted Vernon detectives about the bones and began working to determine whether they were the remains of Shapiro. She collected DNA samples from Shapiro’s immediate family and sent the samples to the University of North Texas Health Science Center for analysis, police said. The remains were identified through the work of that lab, the state forensic lab and the medical examiner’s missing persons unit, police said.

No foul play is suspected in the death of Shapiro. The cause of death was not determined, but police said she left a suicide note at the time of her disappearance. Police said that Shapiro, who was 43 when she disappeared, had a history of mental illness.

The Rev. Joshua Mason Pawelek of the Unitarian Universalist Society: East of Manchester announced to his congregation Sunday that the remains had been identified as those of Shapiro.

He described Shapiro as “a beloved member of the congregation.” Learning that the remains were those of Shapiro was sad, but brought a “sense of peace” for the congregation and her friends there, Pawelek said.

Courtesy of Vernon Police Department

Police in Vernon in September 2014 released this digital reconstruction of the woman whose remains were recovered last year at the site of a former landfill.

Police in Vernon in September 2014 released this digital reconstruction of the woman whose remains were recovered last year at the site of a former landfill.

(Courtesy of Vernon Police Department)

Shapiro lived with mental illness, Pawelek said. “For the most part, she was in recovery, but occasionally she would spend some time in the hospital,” he said. “She managed well.”

He described Shapiro as a creative person who wrote poetry, enjoyed thrift shopping and loved her cats.

“People loved her and supported her,” Pawelek said. “We have a coffeehouse monthly and she would come and do her poetry there.” After Sharpiro’s death, a church member compiled some of her poetry into a book, Pawelek said.

In the years since Shapiro’s disappearance, Unitarian Universalist Society: East has developed a mental health ministry, Pawelek said.

“We recognize that people with mental illness live with a wide variety of stigmas and experience discrimination,” Pawelek said. It’s harder for people with mental illness to find jobs and they often end of living in poverty. Sometimes when people with mental illness show up in churches people shy away from them because they think they’re going to be needy, Pawelek said.

“We believe church is a place where people with mental illness should be able to talk about it, should be able to be out about their struggles and be received without judgment and provided the care and nurturing we try to provide everyone,” he said.

A marker for Shapiro exists in the congregation’s memorial garden. It has her name and date of birth. Her date of death will be added, Pawelek said.

“She definitely had a community that loved her,” Pawelek said. “I know that church was a very important community to her.”

Vernon police never stopped working to determine the identity of the person whose remains were found that March day. “We never stopped investigating ... and we have used all law enforcement resources available to us,” Grady said.